Deputy chairman of Sandals Resorts International Adam Stewart says that the closure of tour operator and airline Thomas Cook, which flies visitors between Jamaica and Manchester, England, will not have a significant impact on Jamaica.

This is contrary to the view of some industry players, who claim that the impact will be significant.

The British company’s sudden collapse on Sunday after 178 years in operation left hundreds of travellers stranded around the world; some in Jamaica.

However, responding to questions at Mayberry Investors’ Briefing on Wednesday at the AC Kingston Hotel just outside New Kingston, Stewart declared that the shortfall will be negligible, pointing to the phenomenal work of Jamaica Vacations (Jamvac), which is mandated to provide, protect and increase the airlift capacity on both schedule and charter routes to Jamaica by working with existing and potential new carriers.  

Stewart pointed to other tour operators, working with several hotel brands in Jamaica, that are willing to fly in visitors to the island, while highlighting that Jamaica is a much sought-after destination in world tourism.

“It’s a short-term blip; it’s more emotional for those of us in the industry that we see a 178-year-old company no longer exist,” Stewart reasoned.

Referring to Sandals Resorts, Stewart explained that his hotel chain gets very few customers from Thomas Cook, which operates charter flights, as most of Sandals’ visitors arrive on scheduled flights.

Stewart, who was the guest speaker at the Investor’s Briefing, spent a lot of his time fielding questions about the Thomas Cook closure and its impact on Jamaica.

He told the audience that contrary to some hotels in places like Egypt, which have been throwing out Thomas Cook clients out of a fear of not being able to collect, Sandals has allowed them to stay free of charge and assisted in arrangements for their return home.

In his main presentation, Stewart, who chairs the Tourism Linkages Council, spoke on the topic, ‘The Tourism Sector: The Associated Opportunities of the Tourism Linkages Network and the Challenges that the Network might be Confronted with Presently and in the Near Future.’

Stewart also spoke of the work being done at the council, in particular the opportunities being made available from the fusion of local agriculture, entertainment and culture into Jamaica’s tourism product. He pointed to successes being generated in agriculture from  the council’s Agri-Linkages Exchange (ALEX) Project, which is aimed at increasing and deepening the linkages between the local agricultural and the hotel and tourism sectors.

This is currently established through operating an agriculture fresh produce Internet-based market linkages platform and commodities exchange through the website located at www.agrilinkages.com.

By increasing the number of farmers that have continuous trade relationships within the hotel and tourism sector, the intention is to drastically reduce the importation of large quantities of fresh produce, thus allowing local farmers to produce based on the demands of the hotel and tourism sector throughout the year.